Sunday, October 11, 2009

August 24, 1975 Trenton Speedway, New Jersey State Fairgrounds, Hamilton, NJ: Aerosmith/Kingfish/Poco/others



Continued research into the touring history of Bob Weir and Kingfish has uncovered a hitherto forgotten outdoor concert in the Summer of 1975 featuring the band opening for rising stars Aerosmith at an auto racing venue in New Jersey. The actual listing would be

August 24, 1975 Trenton Speedway, New Jersey State Fairgrounds, Hamilton Township New Jersey
Aerosmith/Kingfish/Poco/Slade/Nils Lofgren/Mohagany Rush/Hootchie Kootch

The concert was a Sunday afternoon event beginning at 1:00 pm. Trenton Speedway was a 1.5 mile oval track (IndyCar/NASCAR) inside the New Jersey State Fairgrounds. Hamilton Township is the town right next to the capital city of Trenton, so both the Fairgrounds and and the Speedway were usually referred to as in Trenton. The ad prior to the concert is from the Bucks County Courier Times of August 15, 1975. Promoters Hollow Moon Productions apparently insisted that only 8000 people would be allowed inside the bowl of the oval track of the concert.

The promoters seemed to have underestimated the appeal of Aerosmith, whose album Toys In The Attic had been released in April and was steadily climbing the charts. The first single from the album, "Sweet Emotion," was climbing the charts, and "Walk This Way" would follow later in 1975. By the next year, an earlier single, "Dream On" had re-entered the charts, and Aerosmith was one of American's biggest rock bands. Hollow Moon productions correctly anticipated that Aerosmith could headline an 8000-ticket event, but even they must have been caught by surprise at the turnout.



As the post-mortem review from the Bucks County Courier Times on Monday (August 25, 1975) revealed (above), the concert rapidly gotten out of hand. A huge crowd stormed the chain link fence, and despite the best efforts of baseball bat wielding security staff, eventually everyone was let in for free. The problems at this concert were still being mentioned in the Courier Times the next Summer, and seem to have put a damper on big outdoor events at the State Fairgounds.

Notes on the bands
Aerosmith: Toys In The Attic, released April 1975, was Aerosmith's third album. They remain major concert headliners to this day.
Kingfish: Kingfish, with Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead and Dave Torbert of the New Riders, had come together after the Dead went on a touring hiatus in late 1974. Up until this show, save for one show in Reno, the band had not played outside of California.
Poco: Poco, an excellent if not quite headlining band, was now a four-piece, featuring guitarists Paul Cotton and Rusty Young, bassist Tim Schmidt and drummer George Grantham (everyone sang). Their current album Head Over Heels (ABC Records, July 75) had just been released.
Slade: Slade was an English "Glam" hard rock group, managed by former Animals bassist and Hendrix manager Chas Chandler. Hugely popular in England, their mass appeal never translated to the United States. Nonetheless, Gene Simmons of Kiss cited them as a big influence, and Quiet Riot had huge hits with remakes of some Slade songs in the 1990s. However, the Courier Times reviewer singled out their music as "typical of...all the poorer aspects of rock music," which was a standard American response to the band.
Nils Lofgren: Guitarist/singer Nils Lofgren had played around the Northeast with his band Grin from 1969 to 1974, and he had also worked with Crazy Horse and Neil Young. He had just released his first solo album (on A&M).
Mahogany Rush: Mahogany Rush was a Canadian power trio led by guitarist Frank Marino. I saw them a few months before this (at Winterland), and I can assert that despite all protestation to the country, Marino sounded like a Hendrix knock-off. That being said, it was pretty enjoyable. Their current album was probably Strange Universe.
Hootchie Kootch: Hootchie Kootch was a local band.
note: the excellent Poco site has an ad featuring Ambrosia instead of Mahogany Rush.

Notes on the venue
Auto races at the New Jersey State Fairgrounds near Trenton had been held as early as 1900, and continuous racing began in 1912. A new oval dirt track was opened in 1946, and it was paved in 1957. It was a regular stop on the Indy Car circuit in the 1960s, where stars like AJ Foyt and Parnelli Jones raced (Jim Clark drove Indy Cars there in 1963 and 1964). NASCAR raced there with some regularity from 1967 to 1974, and Richard Petty won three Grand National Events.

The Allman Brothers Band headlined a huge show on October 7, 1973. Apparently over 60,000 attended and the concert security was completely overwhelmed, ending outdoor concerts there until the Aerosmith event.

The race track closed in 1980, and the Fairgrounds closed three years later. The site is now a huge outdoor museum called Grounds For Sculpture.

38 comments:

  1. Haha... i was at the October 7, 1973 Allman show, Wet Willie and James Montgomery Blues Band.... It was my first concert ever at the age of 12; there were indeed riots, hells angels riding around the race track, people on the roof of the wooden grandstand throwing bottles. Riot cops went up there and there was a huge fight on the roof. Chunks of the roof falling on us in the grandstand. The Allmans were great that day, but i can see how it was the last straw for shows there.

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  2. Watching Aerosmith on Bio and they showed a photo that looked familiar to me, S Tyler next to a chain link security fence at an outdoor show. A lil' Net research (Hollow Moon Productions/NJ/70's) led me to this post. I was at this show as a local Mercer County 17 year old and remember the mayhem well. Also was at the Allman's show John refers to in 73', my 1st outdoor anything goes show, and a A Bros. junkie at the time. John's description is very accurate and that Brothers & Sisters album tour for the A Bros was outstanding, saw them twice Xmas week @the Spectrum/Philly. Hollow Moon Prod., who put on the Aerosmith show disaster, was out of business soon after if I remember correctly. They limited ticket sales so we all went over or through the fencing, it wasn't difficult. Thanks for the memories!

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    1. I paid 10$ for my ticket !!! I want a refund ...

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  3. I went to that festival to see Kingfish. What a crazy day.

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  4. I attended the 1975 Aerosmith concert in Trenton, NJ. It sprinkled rain on and off all day and kept making the speakers crackle. Aerosmith was the last band on stage that day. It was awesome! Yes, the drugs were flying around and several people were medivacked out. One the the bands announced to the crowd to beware of the bad acid going around. 1975 was a great year for concerts!

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  5. i attended this show after overhearing about it between sets at the dead's great american music hall in s.f. show not long before this. we left before aerosmith since we were not fans and were there for kingfish mostly.

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    1. davmar77, was Kingfish added to the bill late or something, or were you just not aware of it? I can see it was advertised in the paper (at least in Bucks County, anyway), but its always hard to tell from a distance how much publicity a show got.

      You were probably the only person there who heard about it in San Francisco.

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    2. i lived on long island but had been on vacation out west so i didn't know anything about the show at all prior to hearing it being discussed at the great american music hall.

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    3. me too...i was there to sing Kingfish and put up with the other bands. Right after Kingfish finished we left before Aerosmith even took the stage. We were right down front and Kingfish was great.

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    4. I was the electrical contractor and I’m 68 yrs. old now and would like to see about getting a t shirt from that concert

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  6. I was there as a young 14 year old teenager and ended up getting free admission with the gate crashers.
    I remember the bottle throwing and the attempts by the Hollow Moon security to keep the crashers out with bats.
    One scene I remember clearly is looking through one of the rear doors of the south grandstand building. I saw two Hamilton township policemen beating on some long haired dude with their nightsticks. They were merciless!! He looked only about 18 or 19 years old, he didn't seem to be fighting back.
    The lakes in the middle of the race track were full of people swimming and topless girls...too much for a kid to be experiencing...what a time!!

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  7. I was at this show. All these years I thought it was Foghat, not Areosmith. Aerosmith was really loud!

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  8. I was from the Philly western suburbs. I went to the show to see Kingfish. I had no idea who Aerosmith was or any of the other bands. I couldn't believe that Kingfish wasn't the headliner. There was no terminology "Heavy Metal" yet as far as I know. There were lots of loud nitrous tanks. There was a small concrete wall not far from the stage. Many people left after Kingfish and the crowd thinned out. We hung around for almost all of Aerosmith and heard the end as we were walking to our car. I would love to hear this again. I was searching the internet to see if this was up on archive or anywhere!

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    1. Frank, thanks for this. Your comments does remind of the fact that because of the way radio worked back in the day, you often didn't know what bands sounded like. In 1975, for example (I was on the West Coast) I had heard of Aerosmith but literally had no idea what they sounded like or who their fans were.

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    2. I just reread my comment from 2014. This is still how I fondly remember this show.

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  9. Went there with a bunch of friends , got a bad deal on some acid . Good music !! Never will forget that concert !!

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  10. I as at this show also but do not remember the gate crashers. I went to see Aerosmith but when Kingfish came on, I knew my taste in music would change. I became a Deadhead and not have not looked back after 40 years.

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    1. Alan, by a strange coincidence I happened to be at the State Fairgounds site yesterday (now the museum Grounds For Sculpture). Do you recall where the stage was located, relative to the racetrack? At the front, near the pits and the Fairgrounds building, or at the backstretch of the track at the rear of the grounds?

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  11. The stage was at the front where the pits were, in front of the lakes. There was a dogleg on the back leg of the track and a lake at each end of the track. Can you imagine a lake in the middle of a NASCAR track now?

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  12. I waa there and lucky I didn't get medivacked. Mixed greenies and tuinols and smoke a lot of pot and a couple of beers....paid and never got to see the show..... oh well

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  13. lived close. was familiar with the fairgrounds. worked the races as a usher. We were coming of age in the world of rock n roll. Hoochie Kootch was a famous local blues band

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  14. We slept in the parking lot with a 1/4 keg that we forced the gate to allow in well before the gates came down.

    The earliest attempting crashers were yelling "let it in" about our keg. So many pressed up behind us as we (about 8 of us) argued with a big bald Statie that he eventually capitulated after insisting that we promise not to throw our keg at people. $7 Refund back then.

    We stayed to the end. Every beer for miles got drank. There were lines of people going to and from all the bars in that area. We even ran out and had to go buy a couple cases!

    Aerosmith was amazing!!! I was front and center for them. It seemed like everybody burned out and started leaving early so I walked up until I was like 10-20 feet from the stage.

    After the show ended I saw a biker threatening to start beating people who didn't leave so I went to the car. It was easy to find, most everybody else had left by then.

    My crew use to kill a keg or 2 every weekend, plus "what else you got" was like a motto for us. We had barrels of practice but that festival was the biggest beer bash I ever saw. And the bands were all great. I even had a 60x spotting scope to zoom in on guitars and drums with. Mahogany Rush and Aerosmith were my 2 fav bands right about that time so... No shit I was living!!!

    If you read this and walked past the grand stands and saw the 4-5 foot high pyramid of beer cans that stood for hours just across the walkway from the main entrance... What's up!!!

    We watched that pyramid be built and defended for hours!

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    1. I think that big bald cop was Tony Capolo. He was a Hamilton Township cop. He was a Mr. Clean look alike😆 I held up the chain link fence when I snuck in with a couple friends. I had a ticket but they did not. Nobody wanted to take over holding up the fence. Finally I couldn’t hold it any longer. I let people go ahead of me rushing to the stands because I didn’t want to get hit with bats and boards. Good times😆

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  15. A good friend of mine was at this gig and told me that Slade were pelted mercilessly with bottles and cans.

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  16. Was there to see Kingfish, remember Ambrosia playing a decent set

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  17. Great read everyone!! Sounds like it was a blast!! Lil before my ti e 1st show was 1985. I was 5 in 75... I love reading stories like this about the old days!! Always wish I could have seen this lineup of Kingfish. Live!! These guys ripped!!!

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  18. The gate told us the show was sold out. As the crowd who were turned away, gathered at the fence, The Hollow Moon security guards were standing on the inside with bats and clubs, started antagonizing the guys who were putting their hands on it. We started to chant "let us in"! It got heated and the crowd started shaking the fence until it came down. Guys were getting hit by the hollow moon guards that didn't run away.
    Living right across the street from the venue, we knew how to sneak into events at the site. The best way was to wait for someone to create a diversion over there, and jump the fence over here. This was way different. Once the fence went down we just stormed in. There was plenty of space to accommodate the extra people just as the Allman brothers concert had done. I felt bad for Nils as we interrupted his set. He played the Trenton War Memorial building not long after and I got to see him there. All the bands were great and I didn't get clubbed.

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  19. I was there with friends from Marple Newtown HS. Saw the gate crashing. Went off site for beer re-supply. Remember wasted girl dancing topless.

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  20. Was 15 went with my older brother and his friends. Really went to see Poco and Kingfish. Didn't remember the whole free concert and security guards with bats. Was a cool day...from what I can remember.

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  21. the show had over 75000 people there the concert was made free so that no one would get hurt...the promoters already made a profit from pre sales and everyone could be paid....this was our first outdoor concert after over sixty shows in the trenton war memorial and the trenton civic center,,,rich fuller president hollow moon concerts

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    1. Rich, thanks for checking in. If there were that many people, then things actually went pretty well under the circumstances. As you can see from this comment thread, those who went remember it fondly.

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  22. What I remember from ABB 2 years before is as we were walking to the entry gates a chick walked up to a police officer and asked him for a light, she had a joint, and there was a fence separating the people in the grandstands from the field in the middle of the track, some big fat guy with no shirt on climbed the fence and they stopped the show until he got down, he got stuck, people got pussed and started yelling and pelting him with cans and bottles, and the thrill of actually feeling vibrations from the sound of the music, especially Whipping Post...

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  23. 15 years old and a seasoned concert goer. I thought it was normal back then--ahhhh not !!

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  24. Oh yeah forgot to mention got tickets for the bad boys and Blake crows in Philly Saturday night 9-2 -2023 almost 50 years---damn

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